Fans have been waiting a long time for Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and developer Moon Studios knows the final product will need to both meet and exceed player expectations when it releases on March 11, 2020. As a sequel to the award-winning platformer Ori and the Blind Forest, this new title not only includes almost all of the mechanics players loved about the original but also makes some key changes which allow for more customization and less frustration.
The most immediate change to the gameplay of Ori and the Will of the Wisps is the removal of the original game's manual save function. In Ori and the Blind Forest, players were able to save their progress at any point they desired, provided they currently had the requisite amount of energy to do so. While this was helpful in certain situations, it often led to gamers making big advancements in the game and then dying suddenly without remembering to save beforehand, inadvertently causing massive amounts of lost progress and wasted time. The new autosave system in Ori and the Will of the Wisps eliminates this possibility, and while the game does offer a large amount of checkpoints they are not so prevalent as to remove the fear of player death entirely.
The second change returning fans will soon notice in Ori and the Will of the Wisps is the large amount of new skills Ori is able to acquire over the course of the game. Unlike Ori and the Blind Forest, here Ori can learn a multitude of different skills and attacks by acquiring new shards in the world or by purchasing them from NPCs, and the player can switch out which shards are currently in use at will in order to develop the best strategy for any current situation. Some of these, like a shard which grands Ori the ability to stick to walls rather than constantly slide downward on them, make the game's platforming sections easier, while others, like one which offers Ori the option of dealing more damage to certain types of enemies, can help make difficult combat areas become less dangerous.
New attacks, like a directional sword and a magical bow and arrow (which can be used to hit both enemies and puzzle objects from afar) can be mapped to any of the controller's top three face buttons, eliminating the button-mashing element which was prevalent in the early combat stages of Ori and the Blind Forest. Fan-favorite mechanics, like Ori's Dash and Bash moves, make their return, along with a new grapple ability which sees Ori latching on to certain objects and flinging himself towards them. Properly combining these three traversal mechanics together is key to some of the trickier platforming challenges in Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and fans of the original game's Ginso Tree escape section will be pleased to know similar heart-pounding chase scenes can be found here.
With the inclusion of so many more movement and combat-focused abilities, it's only natural for Moon Studios to give the player something to test their skills on, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps offers a number of boss fights and arena battles in addition to the popular chase scenes. The game even sports multi-tiered boss encounters, which can start off as a normal battle, then transition into a chase scene, and then end in another, more spectacular fight. Combat trials, which allow players to test their fighting skills against increasingly difficult waves of enemies, also provide an entertaining tangential experience for anyone who wants to take a break from exploring the world of Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
A break may be necessary from time to time, as Ori and the Will of the Wisps sports a map three times the size of the original title. In addition to the game's main story, which has also been expanded in scope beyond that of Ori and the Blind Forest, this new entry includes a large amount of side missions and optional NPC quest chains. The world of Ori and the Will of the Wisps is absolutely teeming with NPCs and nearly all of them offer either information, items, or additional tasks Ori can complete. The game's Metroidvania-like world design is centered around a large hub area called the Wellspring Glades, a place where many of the characters Ori interacts with throughout his journey call home. As the player progresses throughout the world they will discover different ways they can upgrade the Wellspring Glades, making things permanently better for its residents and, in turn, for Ori as well.
Special mention should be made in regards to Ori and the Will of the Wisps' soundtrack, which is just as beautiful and resonant as it was in the original title if not even more so. Orchestral swells and melodic transitional periods help immerse the player in that old-school Disney adventure mindset for which this series takes inspiration, and the way the background music continues to play after a death and rebirth means that feeling of momentum never truly stops.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a hard game to stop playing, not just because of the musical reasons listed above but simply because it seems like the player is always inches away from discovering something new and exciting. A quick chat with Motay, a resident of the Wellsping Glades who keeps track of Ori's in-game statistics and collectibles, confirmed this, as well as the knowledge that by the time Ori had reached him during this preview session he had already performed forty-nine Bashes and collected a measly four out of thirty-four life cells.
With more of everything players loved from the original and a ton of new, meticulously-crafted abilities, both returning fans of Ori and the Blind Forest and newcomers to the series will find themselves facing an epic, engaging adventure. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a proper video game sequel, one which builds on everything which came before and also expands itself in intelligent, entertaining ways without losing any of the core elements that made the series great to start with. Ori has a family to protect now, and players will soon find out just how far he's willing to go in order to do just that.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps releases on March 11, 2020 for Xbox One and PC. A hands-on gameplay session was provided by Moon Studios for the purposes of this preview.